Meaningful messaging: the impact of targeted mental health messaging towards gay men and their attitudes towards mental health treatment
- WCU Author/Contributor (non-WCU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Collin Scott Williams (Creator)
- Institution
- Western Carolina University (WCU )
- Web Site: http://library.wcu.edu/
- Advisor
- David Solomon
Abstract: Gay men consistently demonstrate higher rates of mental health dysfunction, substance misuse, and suicidal ideation than straight men (Bostwick et al., 2010; Lyons et al., 2019; McCabe et al., 2010; Meyer, 1995; 2003). Public health campaigns have proved promising in addressing mental health for men in general, but few campaigns have focused on gay men, and even fewer have addressed gay men’s mental health, usually targeting physical health instead (Lee et al., 2017; Phillips, 2022; Rochlen et al., 2006). In addition, testimonials have proven themselves as a key feature of public mental health messaging that reduces stigma and promotes positive associations with mental health care utilization (Pinfold et al., 2005), yet few studies have directly analyzed the impact of testimonials from both straight and gay men on willingness to seek mental health care. This study sought to address these gaps in knowledge. 252 gay men recruited from the research website Prolific were randomly assigned to either one of two testimonial vignettes of a fictional man’s personal experience with mental health as either a straight or a gay man, or a control group with no messaging, and completed the Mental Help Seeking Attitudes Scale (MHSAS) to measure attitudes towards seeking mental health treatment after viewing the vignettes (Hammer et al., 2018). Results indicated that knowing the sexuality of a man seeking mental health treatment had no significant impact on attitudes towards help-seeking, but reading messaging overall surrounding a man’s experience did improve attitudes towards help-seeking, compared to no messaging at all. Implications include public mental health messaging being effective in broad messaging, instead of messaging targeting an individual’s sexuality.
Meaningful messaging: the impact of targeted mental health messaging towards gay men and their attitudes towards mental health treatment
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Created on 3/22/2023
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Thesis
- Language: English
- Date: 2023
- Keywords
- Help-seeking, LGBT, Public Health Messaging
- Subjects
- Help-seeking behavior
- Public health
- Mental illness—Treatment
- Mental health
- Gay men